Business Management and Administrative Duties

A Workplace, Health and Safety policy outlines employer and employee obligations to work safely and help minimise the risk of injury and illness.

Some important inclusions in a Workplace Health and Safety policy include:

• Risk assessments and monitoring of hazards and risk - Hierarchy of controls to reduce risks and regular internal audits.

• Maintaining of plant and equipment - Maintenance schedules, service agreements, warranties.

• Safe handling and use of hazardous substances - Personal, protective, equipment, Safety Data Sheets (SDS).

• Pre-exercise health screening, information, instruction, and supervision - To ensure client risks are assessed, correct information and techniques are provided and demonstrated, and adequate monitoring is undertaken.

• Consultation with employees and staff training - Regular staff meetings and training sessions to renew skills such as first-aid or new equipment use.

• Responsibility and delegation - Staff must be aware of who they must escalate WHS issues to and when.

• Accidents, first-aid, physical well-being, and mental health - Includes treatment of acute incidents, reporting, first aid kits, training requirements, and preventative measures taken to reduce risks.

• Emergency procedures - Evacuation, Fire safety, Bomb-threats, Weather-related events.

• Hygiene and cleanliness - Helps to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses such as COVID-19.

• Security - Helps to prevent theft, vandalism, and dangerous incidents such as robberies.

Workplace, health, and safety incidents are recorded on official documents known as incident reports. There are various templates for these documents available on the internet, they usually allow provision for the recording of:

• The injured/affected person/s details including contact information, and also any other involved person/s.

• An account of the actual incident (as reported by witnesses) including date and time.

• Specific information about any injuries sustained and treatment provided for these injuries. 

Employers are legally required to report serious accidents and hazards to their applicable State/Territory safety regulator. They must immediately notify the following circumstances:

• If there is a fatality.

• If an injury resulting from a work-related accident results in a worker having more than seven days off work.

• If there is a dangerous occurrence which may have exposed people to risks, such as a gas leak or structural collapse, even if no one is injured.

This type of policy aims to prevent and eliminate instances of bullying, harassment or discrimination in the workplace. According to the Fair Work Ombudsman website, the following definitions apply to bullying, harassment, and discrimination:

Bullying is when a person or group of people repeatedly acting unreasonably towards an employee or group of workers, especially if the behaviour creates a risk to health and safety.  Bullying does not include performance management, appropriate disciplinary action, or reasonable requests for the undertaking of work tasks.

Unreasonable behaviour includes (but is not limited to):

• Behaving aggressively.

• Teasing or practical jokes.

• Pressuring someone to behave inappropriately.

• Excluding someone from work-related events.

• Unreasonable work demands.

Harassment is unwanted and often repeated actions or words that demean, humiliates, or embarrasses a person. A common form of harassment in the workplace is sexual harassment in which an employee is subjected to unwanted advances, remarks, gestures, or physical contact from another person.

Discrimination is the taking of adverse action (ie. firing them, demoting) based on their characteristics such as race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age. 

A workplace code of conduct is a document that outlines the professional conduct expectations of employees. This may include:

• Presentation standards.

• Customer service protocols.

• Hours of work.

• Job descriptions.

• Ethical standards.

• Misconduct discipline processes.

Includes processes that staff should take to acknowledge, investigate, and resolve client complaints and feedback.

A register of these types of communication is recommended as well as official forms and email templates to ensure information is captured correctly and consistent messages are sent.

Minimum leave entitlements apply for permanent employees and in some cases long-term casual workers. It is important that employers abide by the requirements to pay their staff fairly, provide appropriate entitlements, and avoid legal action. 

The National Employment Standards which are administered by the Fair Work Ombudsman website provides a list of the ten minimum entitlements that employees are eligible for in Australia. A summary of this list is set out below: 

1. Maximum weekly hours - Typically 38 hours per week for a full-time employee however additional reasonable hours can be negotiated as part of the employment contract. Penalty rates usually apply for additional hours worked.

2. Flexible working arrangements - Employees are entitled to request flexible working arrangements such as changes to start and finish times, split shifts / job sharing, or working from home if the business and their job role can accommodate.

3. Parental leave - Two periods of paid leave are available, one for twelve (12) weeks and another for thirty (30) days. Additional unpaid leave can be taken for up to twelve (12) months after the birth or adoption of a child.

4. Annual leave - Four (4) weeks per year for full-time and part-time workers based on their ordinary hours of work.

5. Personal / Carer's leave - Ten (10) days per year for full-time and part-time workers based on their ordinary hours of work. Compassionate / Bereavement leave of two (2) days each time an immediate family or household member dies or suffers a life-threatening illness or injury also falls within this category.

6. Community service leave - Includes time off to undertake voluntary emergency management services or to undertake jury duty. Time periods for this type of leave are negotiated on an as needs basis between the employer and the employee.

7. Long service leave - Extended periods of leave granted to employees who have worked in continuous service for a company for a set period of time. Eligibility guidelines and length of leave applicable varies depending on the state/territory. For more information refer to the Fair Work Ombudsman website specifically the Long Service Leave section.

8. Public holidays - Exact dates vary depending on state/territory. Refer to the Fair Work Ombudsman website specfically the section on public holidays for a list by geographical region. The site also includes calcualtors for determining appropriate rates of pay for staff who are required to work on public holidays.

9. Notice of termination / Redundancy - There are set periods of time that must be provided to employees who are going to be made redundant. This period can either be worked-out or paid-out depending on business needs. The times and payment amounts vary depending on how long the employee has worked for the company. More information is available on the Fair Work Ombudsman website in the sections on notice of termination and redundancy.

10. Fair Work Information Statement - Employers must give a new employee a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement (the FWIS) before, or as soon as possible after, they start their new job. This provision can be in-person, by mail, by email, by emailing a link to the Fair Work website, or by fax.

A leave and time-off policy would include stipulations about each applicable entitlement as well as the application process that employees must undertake to apply for any leave.

Technology is an increasingly common phenomenon in workplaces and can be as distracting as it is useful. A technology and device use policy will include boundaries as to what technology items an employee can utilise during work hours and for what purposes. 

The policy should also include guidelines on the use of company technology such as computers, software packages and portable devices. Appropriate internet conduct, the security of passwords, social media stipulations are sections you may want to include.

Staff may be responsible for processing financial transactions on a daily or intermittent basis and must be aware of appropriate protocols on how to operate equipment, maintain security, provide refunds/exchanges, undertake record-keeping, processes banking. Financial processes are covered in more detail later in this topic.

Individual workplaces will have their own specific policies and procedures relating to the processing of financial transactions, however below are some basic steps regarding cash payments:

1. Communicate clearly with the customer and advise them of the total cost for the goods and services.

2. Receive the cash from your customer and confirm the amount tendered. Note: Your workplace may have a policy whereby you have to confirm with a colleague or supervisor if a customer uses a large note for payment.

3. Input or record the amount tendered into the Point of Sale (POS) terminal.

4. Open the cash drawer and put tendered money inside.

5. If change is required gather the necessary coins and notes that equal the required amount. Note: Refer to the section below relating to providing change.

6. Close the cash drawer.

7. Provide the customer with the relevant change, counting it out loud back to them.

8. Provide the customer with a tax invoice receipt, unless they indicate they do not wish to receive one.

Cash transactions normally require the provision of change to the customer. To calculate change you simply need to extract the amount an item cost from the amount that has been tendered. Most point of sale systems will automatically calculate the change value. However, you need to know how to count back the change as you provide it to the customer, this reassures the customer and helps to ensure you keep your cash draw balanced.

Counting back the change means you are verbally communicating how each item of money contributes to the change amount until it reaches the total amount that the customer provided in the first instance.

If an item cost $67 and the customer paid with a $100 note you need to subtract $67 from $100 to get $33. The change is likely to be made up of a $20 note, a $10 note, a $2 coin and a $1 coin, although some variations may apply. 

Starting with the smallest valued coin, hand it to the customer and verbally add the amount onto the item cost, repeat with each coin/note until you reach the amount tendered.

For example:

• $1 makes $68.

• $2 makes $70.

• $10 makes $80.

• $20 makes $100.

The most common type of non-cash transaction is EFTPOS which stands for Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale.

Customers will have a card which may be a debit or credit or a combination (dual purpose) of both, or they may use their mobile phone and pay via a mobile wallet (eg. Google Pay or Apple Pay). Transactions are divided into three main types Cheque, Savings or Credit depending on the type of card and the type of account the customer holds with their financial institution. 

Contactless payment can be processed via EFTPOS machines for transactions under $100, otherwise, the customer must enter their Personal Identification Number (PIN). Likewise, if your workplace allows cash withdrawals from a Cheque or Savings account the customer must enter their PIN rather than utilise the contactless method.

For security purposes, customers are no longer required to sign for purchases that are paid via credit card, microchip technology embedded in the card is used for identification rather than a signature.

The following video shows how to process non-cash EFTPOS transactions.

EFTPOS transactions will produce an additional receipt, specific to the card transaction. Note: This receipt is not a tax invoice.

Other types of non-cash transactions, particularly for reoccurring payments like membership fees include:

• Direct Debit - The client (or payee) authorises the regular withdraw of a set amount of money from their bank account to be paid to a business or other person on a regular schedule (ie. weekly/fortnightly/monthly). 

• Buy Now, Pay Later services - Examples include Afterpay or Zip Money. These services involve the customer establishing a credit account with the service provider to a specific value, these funds can then be used to purchase items at any store or business that allows Buy Now, Pay Later transactions. The retailer/business receives payment immediately from the service provider and the customer then makes regular repayments (and potentially pays interest or fees) to pay the balance off (similar to a credit card). 

• Gift Vouchers - Pre-paid cards or documents for set amounts that can be used to redeem goods and services. Often provided to people as presents hence the name 'gift voucher'.